Ventura County Ordered to Bargain with Doctors' Union

Union of American Physicians and Dentists Urges County to Stop Making Baseless Appeals

LOS ANGELES - A Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) Administrative Law Judge issued a strong ruling against Ventura County last week, in favor of the county doctors who have been fighting to have the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) represent their unit. "It's time for Ventura County to respect the law, and to stop playing games and wasting tax payers' money on meritless appeals," said UAPD President Dr. Stuart A. Bussey.

Ventura County had recognized UAPD as the exclusive bargaining agent for county doctors in February 2010, but then refused to bargain with the Union. The County claimed that the doctors were not County employees, despite a 2009 PERB ruling to the contrary. In last week's PERB decision, dated August 24, 2011, Administrative Law Judge Thomas J. Allen shot down Ventura County's latest appeal, calling their initial recognition of our Union a "sham" and ordering them to recognize UAPD as part of the settlement.

Judge Allen stated:

"The County seems to ignore (l) that it recognized UAPD as the exclusive bargaining representative of the satellite clinic physicians bargaining unit on February 23, 2010, and (2) that under its own PR&Rs (Personnel Rules and Regulations) no one could contest the representation unit for one year...To allow the County to argue that in 2010 it did not employ the employees in question would be to allow the County to violate its own PR&Rs" (PERB LA-CE-615-M, p. 8).

The ruling also requires the County to begin bargaining in good faith with UAPD, and, because the County's case was in the judge's view "without arguable merit," to reimburse the Union for its legal fees.

Despite the judge's strong words, Ventura County attorneys said they plan to appeal the decision, which would halt its implementation until the appeal is settled. Ventura doctors are encouraging County leaders to forgo another round of appeals, because continuing to pursue this course of action hurts doctors and patients and wastes tax payer money.

The Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) represents 5,000 California doctors, including those employed by the State of California and many California counties. Founded in 1972, UAPD is the largest union of fully-licensed doctors in the United States.